{"id":37437,"date":"2019-02-12T16:13:22","date_gmt":"2019-02-12T16:13:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/02\/12\/sasc-chairman-wants-a-permanent-replacement-for-mattis-but-not-acting-defense-secretary-shanahan\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T07:43:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T07:43:36","slug":"sasc-chairman-wants-a-permanent-replacement-for-mattis-but-not-acting-defense-secretary-shanahan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2019\/02\/12\/sasc-chairman-wants-a-permanent-replacement-for-mattis-but-not-acting-defense-secretary-shanahan\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is a top GOP senator skeptical of Trump\u2019s acting defense secretary?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The Senate\u2019s top defense lawmaker is confident that President Donald Trump will nominate a permanent defense secretary replacement in the near future. But he doesn\u2019t think it will be the man <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/pentagon\/2018\/12\/21\/with-mattis-out-is-shanahan-poised-to-rewire-the-pentagon\/\" target=_blank>currently leading the Pentagon. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe need to have a Secretary of Defense, and I anticipate we will,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2018\/09\/05\/inhofe-takes-over-as-new-senate-armed-services-chairman\/\" target=_blank>Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe<\/a>, R-Okla., told reporters during a roundtable event on Capitol Hill Tuesday. \u201cIf you\u2019re an acting, you don\u2019t have the force you need in the office \u2026 I think (Trump) is going to nominate somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The comments come after White House and Pentagon officials in recent weeks have suggested that Trump could go without a permanent replacement for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2018\/12\/20\/mattis-out-defense-secretary-says-his-views-no-longer-aligned-with-trump\/\" target=_blank>former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis<\/a>, who resigned from the post in December over policy and philosophical differences with the commander-in-chief.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2019\/02\/11\/pentagon-weighs-troop-cuts-as-shanahan-makes-surprise-visit-to-afghanistan\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_5578.JPG.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Pentagon weighs troop cuts as Shanahan makes surprise visit to Afghanistan<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">However, news of departure of half the 14,000 troops in Afghanistan not so, Pentagon says.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Patrick Shanahan was installed as acting Secretary of Defense on Jan. 1, and he has been praised by Trump for his work in the weeks since then. The president has also said that Shanahan \u201ccould be there for a long time\u201d but has not indicated if he will nominate him for the permanent Cabinet role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Tuesday, Inhofe said he does not think Shanahan will get that nomination. He said bluntly that Shanahan lacks the \u201chumility\u201d of Mattis but would not describe his concerns beyond that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shanahan is a former Boeing executive who was confirmed as deputy secretary of defense in early 2017. He spent much of the last year focused on reforming internal processes at the Pentagon. Since his ascension to the top role, questions have surfaced about how his previous business ties could influence military decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Inhofe downplayed those concerns, though he did note that those business conflicts have the potential \u201cto become very partisan\u201d when Shanahan testifies before the committee in coming weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For his part, Shanahan said he is \u201chappy to serve the country in any capacity the president asks me to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Department of Defense is an amazing institution. And whether there\u2019s an \u2018acting\u2019 next to your name or not, it\u2019s the same job. I\u2019ll do the job the same way and it\u2019s a pleasure to serve in this role,&#8221; Shanahan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The questions about Pentagon leadership come as members of Congress are launching their fiscal 2020 budget process without a formal defense budget plan from the White House and without a permanent civilian leader for the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2019\/02\/10\/with-questions-on-syria-inf-shanahan-heads-to-nato\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Shanahan_Trump_1.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">With questions on Syria, nuclear treaty, Shanahan heads to NATO<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">It will be Shanahan&#039;s first chance to reassure the alliance on US plans after Mattis&#039; abrupt resignation in December.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The budget draft was originally scheduled to be released last week, but it has been delayed until mid-March. Inhofe said he\u2019s still hopeful those issues won\u2019t disrupt his committee\u2019s annual work on the defense authorization bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe did a good job last year (passing the bill in August), and I think we can do a good job this year,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to do authorization before appropriations anyways. Off the floor by the end of June. That\u2019s what we anticipate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019ve already had a host of posture hearings. We\u2019re busy. We\u2019re doing a lot more than a lot of other committees.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The chairman said he is eyeing $750 billion as the appropriate level of funding for the Defense Department next fiscal year, which would represent a significant boost from the $716 billion budget for fiscal 2019. But he said that money is needed to build upon readiness and modernization efforts started by Congress in the last two budget cycles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">House Democrats have been discussing significantly lower funding levels, which could make for lengthy budget fight between the chambers throughout the summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. Jim Inhofe said that the current Pentagon leader lacks the &#8220;humility&#8221; of former Defense Secretary Mattis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":80331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[8,160,36,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3424],"class_list":["post-37437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters","category-pentagon"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"LZGJBYFJ45AYLCDSHTKCN7VUTQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/02\/12\/sasc-chairman-wants-a-permanent-replacement-for-mattis-but-not-acting-defense-secretary-shanahan\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why is a top GOP senator skeptical of Trump\u2019s acting defense secretary? - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sen. 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